Incessant Chatterings of Yours Truly

One of the perks to babysitting a ten year old who is obsessed with video games is that I have someone else to talk about pokemon to.

Yes. I love pokemon. But, like most relationships in my life, pokemon and I have a complex love and hate thing going on. For example, pokemon insists on making craptastic and ridiculous new pokemon. And I refuse to acknowledge them. Anything beyond the original 150 (because mewtwo is just a clone, and a jerk), doesn't count. That doesn't stop me from begrudgingly playing the later games, but it doesn't mean that I like it when I send a hippo filled with sand into battle. (Yes, a lizard with a flaming tail is superior to a monkey with a hand on its tail. Don't question it.)

I digress. The point is that I've been listening to one of the kids play Pokemon platinum all weekend, and being the older, wiser and undeniably cool babysitter that I am, I get to teach him new things about a game that I've been playing since before he was born.

Point in case: if you make a pokemon not evolve, it learns moves faster than its evolved counterpart. Of course, the trade off there is in its stats, but sometimes it's worth it. It's more complicated than that, of course, but that was an easy comment to toss out for the kid rather than getting into how it may change its stats around upon evolution and not follow the same course so it changes the pokemon's chemistry in your group and how it may level faster and learn different moves if you delay it, blah blah.

That being said...this is how the conversation went.

Sim: Why does this trainer have a level 26 [insert bullshit post 150 pokemon starter name here]? Mine is level 25 and it's a [insert bullshit evolved form of that pokemon here].
Abel: Well, if you choose not to evolve your pokemon, it learns moves faster. That's why some people do interrupt the evolution instead of just going through with it.
Diem: ... ...I wasn't aware of that.
Abel: That's because I'm cooler than you.
Diem: Obviously. It's kind of funny. Imagine this cute little 'aw' pokemon, pink and fluffy, putting its enemies at ease and then RAWR!
Abel: RAWR! It's true. Deception. Soooo cute. STAB!
Diem: So is that what your mom did? *mimes hitting something with a stick* NO! Don't Evolve!
Abel chuckles: Yes. Exactly. Cute and fierce.
Diem: ABEL wants to learn ADULTHOOD!
Abel: Noooooooes! I'm only a level 5!! That's more like my dad's training.